"Many people stranded on roads because the onset of heavy snow occurred slightly later than predicted," wrote the National Weather Service in a presentation on the historic storm. "People were skeptical of the warnings issued, following a series of inaccurate forecasts the preceding month."

“Major coastal flooding occurred over multiple high-tide cycles and destroyed or severely damaged over 2,000 homes,” reads an excerpt from Massachusetts Hazard Mitigation Plan's section on severe winter weather. “Mariner accounts refer to waves in excess of 30 feet just offshore. The storm triggered many harrowing evacuations and rescues along both the North and South shores.”

The snowstorm left a white blanket of 27.1 inches in Boston, 32.5 in Rockport. According to the state, the storm put over 10,000 people in emergency shelters, injured more than 4,500 and claimed 73 lives.

President Jimmy Carter signed a federal disaster declaration, and in a first-of-its-kind ban, Gov. Michael Dukakis placed a weeklong moratorium on non-emergency vehicular travel. A ban of that caliber, prompted by a blizzard, would not come again until Gov. Deval Patrick called one in 2013 – 35 years later.

Yes, 40 years later, the great Blizzard of ’78 still stands as “the benchmark storm for comparison by all subsequent nor’easters,” as the state puts it.

Many pin the blame for the disaster that accompanied the historic storm not only on the degree to which meteorologists could predict the weather system using the era's forecasting technology, but also on a public that was cynical of warnings over the impending snowstorm.

“No doubt the Blizzard of ’78 was an enormous storm, but the context in which it arrived made it that much worse,” wrote Matt Bowling on his blizzardof78.org website. “It is safe to say that by the time Feb. 6, 1978 came along, New Englanders had been pretty-well trained to not pay much attention to the weathermen. It had been a difficult winter already.”

Today, information-sharing among governmental agencies, the multiple platforms on which humans communicate and technological advances in the way meteorologists forecast weather offer ample time to put the public on notice, stock up on necessities and hunker down.

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the state agency that “ensures the commonwealth is prepared to withstand, respond to and recover from all types of emergencies and disasters,” gathers information from federal, state, regional and local governmental agencies before, during and after snowstorms.

MEMA rolls the information into so-called situational awareness statements, which are updated as snowstorms progress, to the press. In return, media outlets have a smorgasbord of information and infographics – detailing everything from snowfall totals and wind speed to coastal flooding and storm surges - to pick from to then pass on to the public. MEMA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, moreover, not only possess and update Facebook pages and Twitter handles, but also have their own applications for people to download on their cell phones to receive National Weather Service alerts.

“Back in 1978, we kept our data in desks and filing cabinets, not in the cloud,” wrote Wicked Local Columnist Rick Holmes in a reflective piece on the Blizzard of ’78 after a conveyor belt of snowstorms dumped more than 100 inches on the region during the winter of 2015. “Today all we need is a phone and a laptop – and electricity to keep the wifi working and the devices charged.”

Meteorologists, in 1978, claimed only a pair of computers with primitive forecasting software compared to today’s sophisticated weather-modeling technology. Forecasters can provide weather predictions days in advance with a whole lot more accuracy, too, in comparison to their '78 counterparts.

“Weather forecasting has come a long way in the last few decades,” wrote Holmes. “In 21st century blizzards, we have plenty of notice, a crescendo of emergency warnings broadcast from dozens of platforms: TV, radio, texts, tweets, robo-calls from municipal officials.

“We now have governors who make getting people off the roads their top priority,” he added. “People get home and stay home and don’t feel as guilty about it. Organizers don’t have to decide whether or not to cancel a public event; employers have less choice in the work schedule; everyone has a good excuse to duck an invitation.”